Automatic film-threader



W. WENDERHOLDE AUTOMATIC FILM THREADEKH. APPLICATION mi@ swr. 21, :915.

WITNESSES: IWENTOR.

w. wENnERHjom AuToMA-'uc HLM THHEAUER.

APPLICATION f'lLE/D SEPT. 2?', 1'9'15. l A 1,361,123 Patented Dec. 7,1920.v

' W/NESSES: IN1/EN TDH mi? www UNITED STATES PATENT 'oFFica WILLIAMWENDERHOLD, OF NEW YORK, N. Y., ASSIGNOR T0 CRU PATENTS CORPORAA i.TION, `A CORPORATION OF NEW YORK. g l

AUTOMATIC FILM-THREADER. l

I Specification of Letterslatent. Patented Dec t7 1920.

Application led September 27, 1915. Serial'No. 52,896.

To all lwhom it may concern.'

Be it known that I, WILLIAM WENDER- HOLD, a'citizen of the UnitedStates, residing at New York city, in the county and State of New York,have invented certain new and useful Improvements in 'Automatic Film'-Threaders,v of whichthe following is a clear, full, and .exactdescription.

-Thisfinvention relatesto motion icture apparatus, but more particularlyto vt e'film feeding arrangement' The object 'trfl this invention is toprovide an arrangement whereby a film picture is directed automaticallylthrough the4 appa ratus, eliminating the manual method of' threadinga-film through a motion picture machineor any motion picture apparatusand bringing a film by mechanical means in proper position in saidapparatus, insuring the utmost accuracy and speed.

Another object of this invention is to provide an automaticfilmthreaderv which can easily. be adjusted to any motion picture apparatusnow in-use. I have therefore used: 1n my illustrations the generalappearance' of'two motion picture projecting machines Projector and thea Simplex projector showing the 'automatic` now on the market known asthe Simplex Powers Projector. Asisfhown inthe drawings, 1 1 is adiagrammatic illustration of film threader constructed therein. f Fig.2` is a diagramma-tic illustration of my automatic film threaderconstructed in a power projector. i

Fig. 3 is a` sectional view of the aperture section.

To accomplish the object of m invention, I provide a fixed guide forthe-film 2 to the upper combination runningssprocket 3 `and an idlerguide 4 pivotallymounted in the motion picture machine frame cby screw5.

Whenthe film is being delivered to sprocket 3 tobe engaged by the teeththereof, the film will be 'forced around the curved guide 1l and fromthere down to the aperture gate. This -aper'ture gate 6 is under tensionto ,keep the film tight in the focal. axis, and

therefore the film as outlined in dotted line A could not force its waythrough efficiently. I therefore have provided means, automatic in itsoperation, to open the tension guide 6 by the mere operation of theusual governor 4arrangement used in motion picture machines to operate aso-called fire shutter 7.

driving venient I arrange auxiliaryfeedrollers 8 and 9 in closel tensiongate 6. The feed roller 8 is connected with and i`s` constantly drivenbythe mechanism lof the `motion' picture machine. The roller` 9,however, ably mounted in swinging frame 7 which is also the fire shutterand under the influence of the speed governor 10, so that when themachine operates under normal speed, the feed roller 9 is carriedawayfrom the feed roller 8. Therefore, this auxiliarl feed has no longerany effect upon the ulm strip, which has now reached the usualintermittent feed roller 11 and which will deliver the film byV thelower film guide 12, the film taking the position therein as indicatedby a. The film will then reach ,the lower orso called take-up sprocket13 and being engaged thereby will be carried past the idler guide 14into the guides'lv for the film leading to the usual lower take`-upmagazine. The film proximity to' the aperture ris yieldis now threadedthroughv the motion picture machine, but not in the proper position andymust be brought into the position as indicated by the letter B, so thatthe loops of the film are freelyT suspended in theguides 1B and 12. This1s accomplished by mounting the usual upper and lower continuouslyrunning feed sprockets flexibly on their respective shafts l6fand 17 bythearrangement of a spring 18'and spring 19 so that the film on' the'upper sprocket can exert a backward Imotion upon; the sprocket 3.

When the film 2 4is being delivered under tension from the usual upperfilm magazines, the springs L8 and 19 each pass through theiryrespective shafts 16 and 17 and are connected with their respectivesprockets3 and 13 by screws 2Q and 21. The amount ofyieldingby thesprocket is fixed by the pins 22 and 23,' 4which strike the wire .ysprings 19 and 18, thus reducing the amount S'fof'filmforiginally`delivered or contained in theffilm guides 1a .and 12. `The onlydifference in the arrangement for the lower sprocket is that thesprocket 13 is pulled forward by the tension on the film from thetake-up devicel in a motion picture machine and the upper sprocket ispulled in a backwarddirection by the usual tension on the upper reel. Iffor any reason whatsoever a ybackward pull on the upper sprocket 3 isnot permissible', then the sprocket 3 can be fixedly' mounted on theshaft 16 to reduce the film loop from A to B in the guide 1, The rollers8 and 9 can then perform that function by so arranging them that thespeed of the roller 8 will furnish slightly more film to theintermittent sprocket 11. Then the sprocket 23 delivers the film intothe guide 1a the roll 8, having no teeth, will not be able to affect thefilm movement afterthe sprocket 11 has engaged the film, and especiallynot when the roller 9 is'V carried away from the film upon operating themotion picture machine at a normal speed.

I will now describe more explicitly the operation by which the tensiongate 6 is opened. The object is to keep this tension gate away from thefilm when the apparatus is not in normal operation. To ac complish thisI utilize preferably the usual governor in a motion picture machine usedfor opening a fire shutter or the like. The governor 10 is driven by themotion picture vmachine mechanism. In fact, it is a part thereof. Thearms 24 and 25 shift the collar 2G. This collar operates the lever 27which has teeth at one end to engage gear 28, which is mounted on shaft29. This shaft is also the pivotal point for the fire shutter 7, inwhich is mounted the idler roller 9, on shaft 30. It will be readilyseenl that as soon as the governor raises the fire shutter the roller 9is carried with it. The lever 2T is pivotally mounted in the motionpicture machine frame 7c by stud screw 3l, and the link 32 is operatedalso by lever 2T at point 33. In the aperture door are mounted two smalllevers 35 and 36. They are connected with each other by the arm 37 andare operated by link 32. The small levers 36 and lift the tension gate 6whenever the apparatus is below normal speed or at a standstill as thespeed gov ernor controls the operation of the same. The fiat spring 3Sfurnishes the tension for the gate 6. 239 is a guide around theintermittent sprocket and 40 is the projecting lens. 41 and 42 are flatsprings for the idler guides 4 and 14.

All the operations heretofore described take place upon'mere rotation ofthe motion picture machines. I have also described the conditionsprevalent in motion picture mtlchines where the film sprockets maintainat all times a fixed distance between the intermittent sprocket and acontinuously driven sprocket and the automatic film threader as sodescribed in my specification is adaptable to such projectors as theEdisom SimpleX," Bairdf Fowers and others of simi lar type. too numerousmention.

I will now describe another system such as the Power Projector, theldotiograpli7 and Standard In adapting my automatic film threader tothis type of'projector i have used for the illustration in l Lesina@Fig. 2 the general outline of a Power -projector with such alteration asseemed advantageous to my purpose. The type of this projector differsfrom others for the reason that the. intermittent sprocket 11s isshifted to and from the aperture for the purpose of framing the picture.Therefore the distance between the sprocket 1SS and 11s changes andtherefore the film guide 12s must be so arranged as to enable auto maticthreading regardless of the distance between the aforementionedsprockets 13S and 11S. I have therefore provided the guide 12S in twoparts hinged together with pin 43 and the outer ends of the guides 125are pivotally fastened on or about the center point of the sprockets 11sand 12V.

The dotted outlines show guides 12S is lowest position. The sprocket 115is usually mounted in a shiftable frame 44 sliding up and down on bar 45and said bar 45 is can ried by the stationary frame of the motionpicture machine K. The roller 46 has nothing to do with my invention andis only shown to illustrate that this automatic threader does notinterfere with the yieldably mounted roller 46 which operates a looprepairer as used in the Power projector.

I have now described the automatic threader and its form for this typeof apparatus. The operation of the other functions are practically thesame as illustrated in Fig. l, only that'the various roller guides andsprockets are located in somewhat different positions. I do not show thegov ernor in Fig. 2 but character 48 denotes the regular shaft carryinga fire shutter in the Power machine. Therefore, if that fire shutter isclosed as shown in Fig. 2 then the link 49 forces the roller 9S against8S and link 49 also operates the two small levers 35S and 36S. They areconnected with each other by connectingr bar 37S and tend to lift theguides away from the film. B9B is a pivotally mounted guide around thesprocket 11S and is fastened in the sliding frame 44. Guide las isfastened to the door 5() of the motion picture machine by screw 51. Thegear 52 is the main driving gear of the Power motion picture machine andgear 58, shown by the dotted lines, is mounted on the shaft 54, whichalso carries 8S, the auxiliary feed roller. -Similar driving connectionscan be used in Fig. 1.- The governor arrangement of Fig. 1 can be usedin Fig. l2 also. All Jthe numerals in Fig. 1 are marked in Fig. 2, butwith an addition of the letter s to every number, which is in bothillustrations.

Considerable changes can be made without altering the principles of theinvention. My object has been to outline in a simple manner how myinvention can be adapted to any motion 'picture apparatus and willeliminate the heretofore guess method of threading'a lfilm through amotion picture machine or a similar apparatuslVliat I cla-im is:

l. The combination with a motion picture projecting apparatus, a filminlet and a film outlet therefor, a tension gate, and means forpresenting a film in said inlet yand means operatedv by the operation ofsaid projecting apparatus for automatically passing said film by saidgate to said outlet and means for controlling the tension of said gateby the speed of operation of said apparatus.

2. A device for threading afilm into and through a motion picture`apparatus comprising a feed Wheel, guides associated ytherewith, atension gate, said guides dev livering to said tension gate, means forpresenting the film to said feed Wheel, andl means for operating saidVfeed Wheel land for controlling the tension of saidy gate in accordancewith the speed of operation of said wheel.

3. -Afilm threading device comprising in combination, a'normally closedfilm gate, a guidedelivering to said gate a feed Wheel delivering tosaid guide, asecond guideand Vfeed Wheel, means for operating said feed\vl1eels,and means forpresenting a film te said first mentioned feedwheel, and means controlled by the operation `of said feed 4 wheeloperating. means for opening said ate. i y y 4. A filmthreading,device'comprisingin combination, a film gate, aguidedelivering to said gate, -a feed Wheel delivering to said guide, asecond guideand feed wheel, means for operating said feed Wheels,'meanscon trolled bythe speed of operation of said feed Wheels for controllingthe tension on said gate, and means for presenting a film to said rstmentioned feed Wheel.

-tension imposed thereon in its feeding operation. n

7. The combination with a motion' picturel apparatus', offmeans forthreading a film therethrough ycomprising fixed and shiftable feedsprockets, a guide between said sprockets andl means. for maintainingthe space betweensaid sprockets constant.

8, Thev combination With a motion picture apparatus; ofmeans for'threading -a film therethroughcomprising-fixed and shiftable feedsprockets, a guide between said sprock ets andmeans for shifting said-gfuide in accordance With the movement of saidshiftable sprocket, formaintaining the space between said sprockets constant. y

Signed at New.k York, N. Y., this 25t day of September one thousand nine.hundred and fifteen. i f

WILLIAM- WENDERHOLD; y I

Witnesses ROBERTRIGHTER, FRED FERENS.

